Chapter 28-Subjugation of Women

• "All those women having jobs: hard to imagine, now, but thousands of them had jobs, millions."

The women are subjugated in Gilead because although Offred had a paid job, herself as well as other women no longer have the right to work. Their "job" as stated by Gilead's principle is that they should bare children for the elite. The verb, imagine, connotes that Offred is trying to tell the reader that there was a world different to the one that she is in and that there is a wider issue to combat. Also, the nouns, thousands and millions, illustrates that there were a lot of women being subjugated to not being able to work and earn money for themselves and family but had no choice to do or don't.

• "See?, he said again... if he knew some private joke I did not know"

The status of women was switched from high to low in a brief moment as Offred was financially stable with a husband and child, and then stripped to no money and direction for her future. The man knew here that there was something obviously wrong with Offred's teller card. This is a sly but an obvious way to the reader that Gilead is instantly stripping the citizens of their rights and social standings. Also because the personal pronoun, he, is used we know that Gilead is enforcing their patriarchal ideologies through to the society as its a man that ignores what she is saying and 'brushes' her off.

• "I tried phoning the bank again...same recording..."

Gilead subjugates women again by limiting their knowledge of what was going to happen to the organization of society as well as their well being. They knew that the women would disapprove of their future 'jobs' thus them not informing or answering their inquiries. The verb, tried, shows that Offred was being an active part of society and was getting no response. This narrowing of their knowledge is an easy way to oppress them from being able to do what they wanted as done in their previous lives.

Attitudes towards women and sex- Chapters 37-39

SIR, SORRY BUT I COULD NOT GET THE LINK TO EMBED THE SCRIBD FILE TO POST.
Chervaughn Archibald-William
Attitudes towards women and sex in Chapters 37-39

“The Commander has a room key...I am to understand”

The first real connotation from the topic of attitudes towards women and sex comes from the section name itself, Jezebels. This noun means a wicked, shameless woman. In the context of this section and Caribbean slang, the appropriate meaning of this word means shameless women who would have no morals or self-respect for their bodies. The whole setting of this hotel where ‘out of the way’ things happen and purpose of this section relates to the noun, Jezebels. It seems that Margaret Atwood intentionally named this section Jezebels because what happens in it corresponds with the noun. This title already makes the reader conjure ideas, if the meaning of the word is known, that the section would have something to do with women and sex.
At the near beginning of chapter 37, the handmaid describes the clothing of the women at the Jezebels hotel. Collectively she tells of them as flimsy, colourful, short and tight. A direct description by the Handmaid is, “Some are in olden-days, lingerie, shortie nightgowns, baby-doll pyjamas, and the occasional see-through negligee”. This lexical set for “sexy clothing” connotes how the women were lowered to wearing sexual, appealing clothing for high authority men in order to stay alive and away from the Colonies. The clothing symbolizes promiscuity and the women being mere sexual objects to these men who are only there for sexual pleasure anyway. The Handmaid uses this list to show the various types of “play mates” that there are at the hotel. This variety is beneficial to the men that are sexually active with the women as they are eye-candy to lure and make the men lust for them. All of this is contrary to the way that Gilead is run which is a shock to the Handmaid as well as the reader. Atwood wants the reader to notice that although Gilead has such a strict regime, men still can not give up the whole imaginative and seductive side of sex and how women portray themselves whilst involved in the act from pre-Gilead. This shows the power of women’s sexual bait.

An attitude towards women is that they are not seen as individual people. The Handmaid asks the Commander who the people in the room were and he answered by describing the men in the room. This shows dismissal and ignorance of the women in the room. She replies by saying, “Who are these people? ...”No,” I say, “I mean the women.” The noun, people, connotes that the Handmaid used a general word to initiate that she was talking about the women yet the Commander assumed that she was talking about the men which illustrates how high authority men see women and men as unequal. The reader gets the feeling that Atwood did this intentionally in order for us to question the dominance and view of women in Gilead and more particularly the Jezebels hotel. It is clear that if the Handmaid asked specifically who the women were, the Commander would have discussed their purpose of being practically free “prostitutes”.

The initial viewing of the women by the Handmaid is, “The women are sitting, lounging, strolling, leaning against one another”. This listed description is quite restricted on the women. It seems to the reader that the women are just mere objects or figures at the hotel instead of ex professionals and smart women. The Handmaid also suggests the same by describing them as “posing” than giving them life like descriptions. The word order of this list also is quite significant as she suggests that the women are doing practically nothing constructive but are just there. The verbs connote similar meanings that the women are “floating” around. In relation to the attitude towards women and sex, the description by the Handmaid shows that the women are not seen as significant and life-like. If the same goes for when the women are having sex, the men will see them as mere objects that they can use to fulfil their pleasures with no consideration of the women’s feelings or emotions whilst doing it.

It is not only in this section that the attitudes towards women and sex are negative. It is throughout the novel and Atwood demonstrates this through various means.

Monologue of Nick After Visiting the Commander in His Office

A photograph of a 'family' with an example of its composition

A photograph of a 'family' with an example of its composition

Left-to-right: Offred, Rita, Commander, Serena Joy, Nick, Cora

The Commander is the highest of authority in the household as well as Gilead. He is married to Serena Joy who runs the operations in the household. Rita and Cora serve as waiting women who ensure that Serena's operations are undergone. Offred acts as a 'baby-maker' for the Commander and his wife.(This is a acceptable in Gilead). Nick is the bodyguard of the household and protects the people in it.

Character research-Offred

Character Research for November 4^th, 2010

Offred

The main character in The Handmaid’s Tale is Offred. Offred is not her original name but it is the name given to her by her owner, The Commander. His name is Fred and the adverb, Of, is before this to show his possession of her. Her real name is not mentioned to the reader but then does say it to her later lover, Nick.

Offred tells her story as she is going through it but frequently has flashbacks about her life before Gilead. It’s usually about her friend Moira, husband Luke, Mother or Daughter. “If it’s a story I am telling, then I have control over the ending” This quote illustrates how Offred thinks of what she tells in her flashbacks and reality. The verb, control, connotes power which she does not have in her circumstance.

She started off disliking all what Gilead stood for at the beginning of the novel but then slowly started accepting its ideologies. “They can do what they like with me. I am abject”. The quote shows how Offred has become submissive to the role of Handmaid. The adjective, abject, connotes shame and being despicable. This is what Offred has ‘reduced’ herself to and she is openly admitting this to the reader.

Top Two Features

About loss e.g  freedom,mothers, children
I believe that the most important feature in the novel is about the loss of different aspects.


Offred loses her daughter when trying to escape Gilead. In earlier chapters she says that she sometimes sees her daughter as a ghost. the noun,ghost, connotes something see through and not frequent. This illustrates that she misses her daughter and that she can't have her like she did before in pre-Gilead.
Offred loses her freedom to everything that she believed she took advantage of such as speaking and meeting people. In chapter 1 she says, "We learned to whisper almost without sound". The pronoun, we, suggests that it weren't herself only that was confined to whispering and not expressing themselves like they would in usual circumstances. This loss of this simple action implies that they were reduced or stripped away to conform to their new roles of Handmaids than how they were in they former lives.
Offred also loses her mother throughout the transition of the new life because of her outspoken character which promoted feminism and not patriarchy.

About the exploitation of women
Secondly, I think about the exploitation of women as important as well


The most obvious way in which women are exploited in the novel is the idea of having Handmaids. It can be seen as state rape from the readers point of view. The form of this is done in what they call, ceremonies. It starts with a reading from the bible which is meant to justify the whole thing. In chapter 15, Offred says, "It's the usual story, the usual stories".This is ironic that they would have biblical allusion in such an activity. The adjective, usual, connotes that it is a regular occurance this state rape.